Freedom
by saki.clam
Summary: When the flock escapes from the school, they aren't the only ones that escape. What will happen when they meet a young girl that also escaped from the school?
1. Chapter 1

** Here is the intro and stuff.**

**Disclaimer: you know the drill, I don't own maximum ride and all that stuff**

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Birdy watches the six kids with envy.

They're happy, well, maybe not as happy as someone normal, but a hell of a lot happier than Birdy. At least they have each other. Sure, it's not a picture perfect family, but every family has its secrets, and this family secret is that they have wings.

Birdy is all alone.

The six of them are sleeping in trees, which would see odd to someone normal, but not to Birdy. She's defiantly slept in weirder places than tress.

Only one of them is still awake. The oldest girl. She has blond hair so dark it's almost brown, with streaks of lighter blond hair in it. Her eyes are chocolate brown. The girl doesn't notice Birdy. Which is fine, but Birdy can't help but wonder- _what would happen if she did notice me?_ Would the girl invite her to join her 'flock', her family?

Probably not.

It doesn't matter, it's not like it will happen anyway. Since she escaped from that living hell called the school, Birdy has been on her own. Her stomach turns at the thought of her friends still trapped in that living nightmare.

Just recently Birdy had been trapped at the school too. She had the flock to thank for her freedom. The scientist there had wanting the flock back for years and finally they managed to capture four of them- the dark haired male, and the three girls. They had been but into the same room as Birdy but they wouldn't remember Birdy even if they saw her. She had been in a cowering in a cage in a corner too terrified to speak. Then they had brought her to watch the erasers- half man half wolf- tear the flock to bits. The sickos wanted to see her reaction. When the flock has caused a commotion Birdy was able to escape. It was out of pure luck.

When the scientist ran outside to try and get the situation under control, they forgot to put her back in her cage. Also because of the commotion, they left the door unlocked- very stupid for supposedly genius scientists- and she managed to escape out the door. She has them to thank for her freedom- that girl- Maximum Ride.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chappie two**

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**Max**

I see her across the street watching me and the rest of the flock. I don't think she knows that I see her. Which is good.

She had straight, waist long blond hair and pale skin. She wears a black sweatshirt with the hood pulled up. Her eyes are closed and she has her fist closed around something. She sits against a brick wall, her knees pulled up to her chest. But I know that she was just staring at us a few moments ago.

I turn to Fang to ask if he notices anything funny about her. Then I smile when I see him sleeping, his mouth open. I shrug away the discomfort. I'm too paranoid. Even if she was looking at us, I mean, who can blame her, we're six kids sleeping in trees for god's sake. Just to be sure I glance back at her and right away I hate the look she's giving me. Her eyes are open and she's staring at us again. She creeps me out.

When I can't take her freaky staring a second longer I slid down from the tree and slowly start to walk towards her. When I finally reach her, I see a tiny, tiny- so tiny I might have imagined it- sliver of panic in her eyes. If it was there at all she controls it quickly and puts a mask of curiosity on her face. Her whole body seems to say; Hello-can-I-help-you? Why have you come over here? But I'm not buying it.

"Why were you watching us" I snarl. She pretends to look surprised.

"What do you mean? Why was I watching who?" She says as if she has no idea what I'm talking about. She's a good liar, I'll give her that.

"I'm just here to tell you, if you even think of coming near my flock I will tear you to shreds" I say, giving her a death glare. Again, she pretends to be surprised.

"Your '_flock'_?" She asks. But on the word flock I see another shiver of true emotion in her eyes. Only someone a regular at dealing with liars would see it and I was for sure a regular. (After so many year of the flock I had to be)

For just one moment she looks sad, lonely and scared. I know that look. And in that moment I felt bad for her. Everyone in the flock has felt that at some point. But we have someone to lean on. This girl has no one and my stupid sappy side is acting up again.

"Cut the crap kid" I say "You're from the school, aren't you?" She nods and says very matter-of-factly- "And so are you" (smart ass) I nod and sit down next to her.

"Why are you in New York?" She looks at me like she's trying to figure me out and replies shortly- "Family" I laugh, not believing a second of her bull shit.

"You're lying" I say. She raises her eyebrows.

"Why do you say that" She says. For some reason she sounds slightly amused. I grin.

"Welllllll, you had family you wouldn't be sitting on the streets at midnight, would you. It's possible that they threw you out or you're afraid to go back because of what happened at the school. But if that were true you probably wouldn't be still hanging around, too many memories to haunt you." I say firmly. I can't help but feel a little proud of myself. She raises an eyebrow and she says- "You're smarter than you look, I'll give you that, and you're completely right, I guess you spend a lot of time with liars" But she doesn't say it like it's a bad thing. She continues, "I'm not in New York because of family, I'm here because I'm trying to find the institute." I almost choke on my own saliva, hardly daring to believe that we have the same goals.

"So am I." An idea pops into my head and I mull it over, knowing it could put the flock in danger. But she just seems so fricking alone.

"You could come with us… until we find the institute." I say slowly. She looks kind of nervous but she nods. I stand up and offer her a hand. She grabs it and I pull her up.

"I'm Maximum Ride by the way. You can call me Max."

"I'm Birdy" She says and we walk to the trees.


	3. Chapter 3

**Fang**

I'm annoyed, No, I'm _pissed. _How dare Max invite some random street girl to hang out with the flock? It put us all in danger. Max is being an idiot. A fricking idiot.

Max gives me a look that means- 'don't say anything because I can explain' so I wait for the chick to fall asleep before I lecture Max.

"Max, do you have any idea how stupid you're being?! Inviting a stranger to live with us?!" I whisper-scream. But Max has a determined look in her eye.

"I'm not inviting her to _live _with us; she's just gonna hang with us until we find the institute. Besides, she's from the school and she's got no one." Max replies coldly.

"So what?" I snap, making a large effort not to wake everyone else up. "There are tons of little kids on the street that don't have anybody. But that doesn't mean we should invite them to travel with us! Do you even know anything her?!" I rant. Max lifts her chin, refusing to lose this battle.

"Her name is Birdy, she's from the school and she's alone." She states. I'm livid at this point.

"So. Fricking. What. Her name obviously isn't Birdy and the erasers are from the school but that doesn't mean we invite them to _live _with us."

"For the last time, this is _temporary_ and if you want to know stuff about her just ask." With that statement she hops over to where the girl is sleeping and shakes her shoulder. She sits up, wide-eyed. She looks around, confused, until she sees it's just Max.

Max smiles and says "So! Why don't you tell us a bit about yourself, how come you call yourself Birdy?" Birdy hugs her knees to her chest look lost in thought; it's a moment before she finally responds.

"It's kinda a long story. But, one day, in school, I was talking to this girl I didn't know. She asked me if my best friend- her name is Streak- was violent. I told her 'of course Streak it violent. Then at lunch the girl came over to Streak and I and said- 'So Streak, a little birdie told me that you're violent' and I said 'that's me' and from that day on she called my Birdy, all of my friends did." It's the longest thing I've ever heard her say. She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, like talking for that long is tiring. Max gives her a moment to collect her thoughts.

"How old are you" Max asks. Birdy thinks about this for a second.

"I was in the school for a while, but I'm not sure how long, so I'm not 100% sure but I guess I'm around 13" She says. There's one more question I want to ask her but I'm sure it's treading on dangerous ground. I just can't help asking.

"What happened to you at the school?" I ask. She frowns and pulls her skinny legs closer to her chest. I notice how skinny she is, like she hardly eats ever get a decent meal. (Not that the Flock eats decent meals all the time) Birdy glares at me and so does Max.

"It's really none of your business" Birdy says sternly. I nod, that was sort of the answer I was expecting. I'm still a bit angry, although much less, I have Max take first watch all go back to sleep.

**Birdy**

After they're done asking their questions, I try and get some sleep. It's hard, after the dream I just had

_We're at the neighborhood park. I'm not sure why, but I do know that I'm really happy. The four walk over to the trees. For some reason, we're all laughing. I climb to the top of a tree and watch my friends below try to climb it. They can't. But for some reason, I simply forget about them. I jump off the tree, but instead of falling, I'm suddenly in New York, without my friends. I look around, trying to find them. They aren't anywhere and I start getting worried. Where the hell are they!_

Then, I wake up

I've been having the same dream for about two weeks. The same thing every night. I dread falling asleep because of it.

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Yay! Chapter- what is this again? Three? I don't care. I'm listening to 'it's a wonderful Cat life' by Gumi and Len. Yay Vocaloids!


	4. Chapter 4

**About the 'tree house' i mentioned in the dream, i took it out of a real dream i had and it's hard to explain. 'Tree house' was the best word i could think of.**

**I'm slightly sick and bored, so here's chapter 4. **

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**Max**

Knowing the flock is going to ask questions, I delay waking them up for as long as I can. But when, Angel finally wakes up on her own, I know it's time to wake the rest of the flock.

"Up and at 'em, sweetie." I say, softly shaking Nudge's shoulder. Fang wakes up and wakes up Iggy and I wake up Gazzy. The flock, one b one notices Birdy, who is still sitting in a tree. Knowing the questions are going to start soon I introduce her.

"O.k. everybody, this is Birdy." Birdy waves meekly.

"She's going to be hanging with us until we can find the institute." I continue "So how 'bout we introduce ourselves." Nudge starts talking.

"OMG, are you like us? Were you at the school? I'm Nudge by the way! How old are you? Are you my age? OMG, that'd be sooo cool! I mean, I have max and all that but I don't have someone my age! Do you like shopping and what's your option on talking, cuz as you can see I talk A LOT. Max is always telling me that I need to talk less, but it's SOOO hard also I-"

"Nudge that's enough, her ears are going to fall off." Nudge blushes. Gazzy go's next.

"I'm Gazzy, uhh I like bombs, and food" Angel starts talking

"I'm Angel, Gazzy's sister, I'm six-ish" Angel says. Birdy smiles and waves, not saying anything. Iggy clears his throat and says "I'm Iggy, I'm blind and I uh, like bombs too." I take over with my leardly powers.

"As you know I'm Max and this is Fang" I say waving a hand over to my silent friend. "We're trying to find the institute, have any ideas" She thinks for a second and says, slowly "Maybe, I have a place where we can go and hopefully find the institute, follow me if you want." She hops down from her tree and without giving a glance over her shoulder to see if we're coming, she starts walking. I nod at the flock to follow her. They walk behind her in silence. Grabbing Angel's arm I stop. I wait till I'm far enough behind that she won't be able to hear my. I whisper into Angel's ear "can you pick up any thoughts from her" She closes her eyes for a second, concentrating, and then she frowns. Uh-oh.

"Her thoughts are muddled and confusing. I can only grasp what's on the surface, but she's really lonely and scared and I _think _that she does want to help us." Angel says. I nod.

"Thanks Angel, if you hear anything suspicious, make sure to tell me." Angel nods and we keep walking.

….

After about five minutes of walking. Birdy turned down an old ally way that leads to the back of a motel. I notice that the back door to the motel is open just a pinch. Birdy walks in and my first thought is _where are all the people?_ Then Birdy speaks up.

"The motel was supposed to open a month ago, but something happened and it's being delayed. In opens in two weeks. I lock picked the back door and I stay here, its better then the streets." She walks towards the stairs calling back to us "The elevators don't work" I thank my lucky star that it's only about five stories high rather than twenty. When we reach the top and Birdy pushes a door open. It leads to a nice looking sitting area with a TV. One door is open and leads to a bathroom. The other I assume is a closet. Birdy walks through another door and it leads so a room with a king size bed and a desk and couch. There's a balcony. We all jump when she breaks the silence.

"There are other rooms like this one that you can find." I nod to Iggy and he ushers the kids to find there rooms. Birdy walks to the sitting area and throws herself down on to the loveseat. Fang and I take the couch. Glancing at the coffee table I see it's covered in maps of New York City. Certain places are circled with red marker.

"Now" she says nodding to the maps "Let's get to work"


	5. Chapter 5

Ok i wanted to make a chapter from a diffrent point of view so i went with Angel. I hope you enjoy

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**Angel**

Angel doesn't understand what the new girl is thinking. She keeps thinking about different things. From what Angel can gather, she had a family. A _real _family. As much as Angel loves Max and the rest of the flock, Max is not her mother. In her life Angel has seen some terrible thing. Her life was hell before Jeb broke her out. Angel shutters remembering her recent trip to the school. She wants to tear those scientists apart. But she knows that makes her no better than them and she only hurts when she has to, only when the erasers are attacking her family. Out of all the terrible things Angel has seen it's not what happened to her it's what happened to others. She has seen mistakes that she doesn't even want to think about. She has seen babies and children died slowly at the hands of evil scientist. She has seen innocent people die for no reason. For science. Sure science can be good but not the way the school is using it.

Out of all the things she's seen every experiment has something in common- they've all been taken away from their parents. Angel feels a pang of pity for the other experiment. Unlike the flock, they're failures. They'll probably die. Although she hates Jeb, if it weren't for him the flock would still be in cages. Even if they could get out some how they would have no idea what to do. Jeb taught them everything. He was a great father. Angel mentally yells at herself for thinking nice thoughts about Jeb. He's a traitor. But Max used to always talk about how great he was. Angel would rather have Max as the leader than Jeb. Of course Max isn't perfect; there are things she could do better. Angel fells guilty for thinking those things, Max is trying her hardest. Still Angel can't help but feel like maybe Max should run things a little differently.

After a while of lying in her room Angel gets bored and goes to see what Nudge is doing.

Nudge is the closest thing Angel has to a sister.

Nudge's room is right next to Angel's room. Nudge is lying on her bed flipping through the television channels. But she shuts the T.V. off when Angel walks in. Nudge opens her mouth and Angel braces herself.

"Hi Angel! Isn't this place sooo nice? I wish we could stay here forever. Too bad it's opening soon. What do you think of the new girl? She seems nice, but she's quiet, like Fang! Maybe they'll start dating!" Maybe, but probably not. The last thing on both Fang and the new girl minds was dating. Plus if Fang decided to date someone it would probably be Max. They would be a cute couple. But why rain of Nudge's parade.

"Maybe they will. And ya, this place is awesome. Now move over lets watch some T.V." Angel replies.

**Max **

One thing about Birdy- she's smart. School smart and street smart. Everyone in the flock was street smart but school smart? Not so much. She has defiantly been to school before. This just makes everything even more confusing.

After a few hours of looking for more places that the institute might be we decide to take a break. Birdy grabs a book and begins to read. Fang soon falls asleep and I get an idea. Why not go to the ocean? The kids have never gone and to be honest I think all of us deserve a break.

In ten minutes everyone has gathered in Birdy's room and I start my leaderly speech.

_I think it's a great idea. _I hear in my head. Angel. _Thanks sweetie. _I think back.

"Alright everybody, I think we all deserve a break. So that why I have made the decision to head down to the beach just for a day." I say proudly. Everyone cheers.

Within an hour we've _borrowed _a car and we're on our way. I wish we could fly but we can't because of Birdy. It takes us longer to get there but finally we arrive. The kids instantly start playing in the ocean. I smile and watch then sitting in the sand.

"I want to study the ocean when I grow up" Nudge calls.

"Marine Biology" I hear Birdy mutter. I look at her questionably and she explains.

"Marine Biology- the study of the sea. Mar means 'the sea'. Bio means 'life'. Ology means 'the study of'. I guess marine biology would really mean- study of sea _life_ but close enough. Nudge wants to be a marine biologist." I stare at her with my mouth hanging open. How the heck did she know _that_?

Birdy gets up and starts to walk away when suddenly she trips on a log. I can't help it I burst out laughing. She gets off and brushes herself off.

"Mother fuuuuu" Birdy notices she's in the earshot of angel.

"Father." She clears her throat.

"Mother father." I start laughing and Fang grins. At least she's making an effort not to swear if front of the kids.

I smile and lean back in the sand. Today was a good day. It's too bad that we have to go back to New York and continue looking for the institute. I wish we could stay on this little private strip of beach forever. Just me and my family. Safe and sound. If I could do that I would.

Someone sits next to me and I glance out of the corner of my eye and see its Angel. She's smiling. Crap.

"I can breathe underwater." Okayyyyyy. I was _not _expecting that. But before I can gather everyone around to tell them the news, Nudge screams. I look around and almost pass out. We're surrounded. By hundreds of erasers.

"Shit" Says Birdy

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I know that id doesn't exactly go along with the book but it's my fanfiction so i can do what i want. I hope you enjoyed. Next chapter something big is going to happen with Birdy. Try to guess what :D


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry it took me a while but here is the next chapter.

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**Max**

Things went bad fast. Angel, Nudge, Gazzy and Iggy quickly jump into the air and stay a few feet over the erasers. Two erasers grab me and Birdy starts climbing a tree. Two erasers are hot on her trail.

"Come 'er little piggy." One eraser calls to her.

"Guess what?" Another one calls "You're not one of the six, and you know what that means- dinner time!"

Birdy can climb higher than the erasers without the branches snapping, but I know that the erasers never give up and will find a way to get her down. I feel a lump form in my throat, knowing the chances of Birdy making it out of this alive are slim. And although it makes me feel guilty, I feel a tiny bit glad it's her rather then one of the flock. Still, she a cool girl and I don't want to watch her die.

I hear a yell and my head snaps back to Fang and Ari, who are starting to fight. It's not going well. Ari is sitting of Fang's chest and punching him in the face.

An evil, twisted laugh brings my attention back to the tree. The eraser is reaching up and can almost reach Birdy. Then, without any warning, Birdy jumps off the tree. I close my eyes not wanting to see her hit the ground, only to be torn apart by erasers. Then I hear a gasp, its Gazzy, Angel, Nudge and Iggy. I open my eyes to see that Birdy didn't hit the ground at all. In fact, she's moving away from the ground. She's _flying. _With _wings. _She's a bird kid.

Her wings are black as midnight and about 13 feet across. She gives me a look of sadness. Why is she sad- because she didn't tell me? Because she's a freak?

Before I can ponder it anymore my attention it back at Fang. He's losing the battle. Bad. Ari starts hitting his head against a rock and it takes all I have in me not to start screaming. If continues for a few minutes then Fang passes out. Ari lift a claw to give the fatal blow. I strain against the erasers holding me but all they do if laugh. I cry out but then I hear a familiar voice.

"Stop. You know the order." It's Jeb.

He looks at my tear stained cheeks and gives me a look of pity. This only makes me angry. Jeb hold up a hand and the erasers step backward. Suddenly, it's just me the flock and Birdy again. I run to Fang and kneel by him. He groans. In that second I feel something, relief, happiness, I'm not sure. But whatever it is, for some reason, makes me lean down and kiss him.

**Birdy**

I stand off to the side as Max kisses Fang, talks to him and eventually, helps him to his feet. I try not to cry. But it's hard, knowing that any second the flock's attention will turn to me.

But it doesn't, and for this I am glad.

They all spread their wings and start to fly. Max shoots me a _we'll talk about this later_ and takes off behind Fang. I take off behind them but keep me distance and when we get to the hotel I quickly slip into my room and turn on the shower, hoping they won't bother me. I look into the mirror at my face and I hate what I see.

This is the girl who left her family behind, lied and deceived everyone she met and most recently lied to her new friend. I can't help the tears from slipping down my cheeks. I wished I still lived at home.

I remember lazy summer days spent visiting the park with my friends, laughing and talking about random shit. I remember looking at the stars and playing truth or dare at sleepovers. All of that was gone in one awful day. A day a can never forget.

_It had been an awful day. For more reasons than one. First my dad was being an asshole, as usual, also I had failed my math test and lastly, by best friend Tabby had gone missing. My other best friend, Streak, and I had spent the entire day wearily answering questions for the police men. The day had been plain awful._

_When I get into my room and I flop down on my bed, too tired to stand anymore. Suddenly, I realize I'm not alone. I looked up and realize there was a man standing in my room. It's strange, he doesn't really look human. He looks like a werewolf from the movies. He's hairy, with sharp teeth. _

_He smiles and says "You'll do perfectly." He lunges forwards and grabs. I struggle, but he's too strong. I scream as loud as I can, hoping to be heard and rescued but I know it will never work. My father is probably at the bar getting drunk and my mother is probably in the shower crying and pretending everything is alright. My scream is probably unheard because of her own screams and wails._

_I know it's useless._

_Within a few minutes, the strange man has me gagged and throws me in a van. I feel someone eject me with something and everything goes black._

That was the worst day of my life. Even now it haunts me. I shudder and pull me knees to my chest, trying to get away from my reflection in the mirror. I know the flock can help me but all I want is my friends back and my life to be the same. I sob, knowing it will never happen. I will be a freak forever.

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Ok, this is going form my memory of the book so i know there will be a few things wrong but this is my story so whatever


	7. Chapter 7

You guys must hate me so much. ITS BEEN FOREVER! I am so sorry

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**No one **

Gazzy wakes up to the sound of crying and intently feels panic. No one in flock cries unless there's something really bad happening. But wait, the new girl. Is _she _crying? Gazzy gets out of bed to investigate. Sure enough, the closer he gets to the new girls room, the louder the crying gets.

When Gazzy gets to the new girl's room, he's sure this is where the crying is from. He pauses, and then he knocks. After a few minutes with no response he opens the door. Sitting in the corner of the room, sits Birdy. Her legs are pulled up to her chest and her head between her knees. When she hears Gazzy open the room she tenses up and then she looks up. She eyes are red and her face is tear-streaked. Her shoulders slump when she realizes its Gazzy.

Having no idea what to say to her he awkwardly shifts his feet, about to apologizing for barging in. But before he had a chance, she speaks

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For not telling you guys about my wings. It's just, hard to come to the term with it"

"What do you mean? You've had your hold life"

Birdy shakes her head "I only got my wings recently, before then I had a home. I had a _family. _I had two brothers and a mother that loved me. Now that's all gone. I lost everything."

Gazzy has no idea what to say. He has no idea what any of that feels like. He gulps and says "Listen, it must be hard losing all that, but at least you have the memories. We have nothing. And I know that eventually, you'll get used to being on the run."

Birdy looked up and managed a small smile.

"Thanks Gazzy. You're a great kid"

**Max**

"Hey, Max?" I hear a voice ask me timidly. I turn around and see Birdy standing behind me, clutching a newspaper to her chest. She glances up at me shyly.

Shy

That's not a word I thought I would ever use to describe Birdy. But sure enough, as she stands there I'm 100% positive that Birdy is scared to talk to me. It's as if overnight she lost all her confidence.

"What's up?" I reply, worried.

"Well," She begins meekly. "I was reading the newspaper and I found this one ad that might help us" She places the newspaper on the table in front of her. I stare at the newspaper, like I'm expecting it to blow up. But then I carefully pick it up and glance at the ad she's talking about.

**Join us! **

**For the opening of Jackson's Beauty parlor**

**First day all the makeovers are free, as long as your stylist gets to do whatever they want! **

Below was a picture of the beauty parlor, an address and a date. It's today (A/N I have no idea what an add would look like so I just made this up, also, I thought of the name of the beauty parlor on the spot)

"You see," Explains Birdy "Maybe we could get makeovers so the erasers can't find us."

I know that it will be completely useless. But then for the first time that day, Birdy makes eye contact with me. By the look in her eyes I can tell that she knows that it would useless. Then I understand why she wants to do it. Because it would make the flock feel more at peace.

I step back, surprised I can read her so well when I barley know her. But she's right. This will make the flock feel better so we should do it. Plus it's free so why the hell not

"Okay" I say "I'll go tell Fang and the rest of the flock that we're leaving in half an hour"

**15 minutes later**

With fifteen minutes left to waste I decide to go on a walk. But I agree with Fang that I can't go too far from the motel. I put on my shoes and walk out the door.

Even though we live a bit away from the busy part of the city, it's still noisy here. I hear people yelling and horns honking. I smile to myself. The freaks in New York make the flock seem normal.

As I round the corner I instantly bump into a woman. She looks like she's in her early forties. She had chin length light brown hair and grey eyes. She looks like she might have had a pretty face except for the fact she's frowning so deeply. Her eyes widen with surprise and horror.

"I-I'm so sorry!" She says, seeming extremely flustered "I wasn't watching where I was going and now I've hurt you and- Oh, I'm so sorry! Please accept my deepest apology. I-"

"Miss." I interrupt "its fine."

The woman sighs and sits down on a sidewalk curb. She looks so tired. I wonder what happen to make her _this_ tired.

"I was never a mess" She says "But I became one when my daughter went missing" Her eyes widen and she slaps a hand over her mouth. My eyes widen too and my curiosity instantly spikes.

"Your daughter went missing?" I ask. Once again the poor woman looks extremely flustered.

"Well, yes." She says "But it was a while ago, the police have already called off the search" Her shoulders slump in despair.

"I just-" She continues "I just am so worried about my other children. I moved to New York for a fresh start" She pauses and looks at me. Then she laughs

"Look at me! Telling all this to a complete stranger! It would make me feel better if I knew your name."

"I'm Max" I reply. She gives me a small smile and says- "I'm Molly, now it was nice meeting you Max but I really must be going. Goodbye Max."

"Goodbye" I say as she hurries down the street. I stare after her dumbfounded. I've know her for about three minutes and I already know half her life story. Yet, she knows nothing about me other then my name. I said ten words to her in total.

**Angel**

I think it's a nice idea to go to a beauty parlor. I think I look pretty, although I would look better if Max had let me get a tutu. Speaking of Max, she looks absolutely _beautiful. _ I like her hair short and her jean jacket look great on her. I smile up at her and she ruffles my hair.

Birdy walks out of the parlor and my eye widen. She now has bangs on either side of her face that covers her eyes unless she pushes them away. Her stylist dyed them _blue. _They were electric blue to match her eyes. She also had two other blue streaks in her hair. Her stylist had also given her a triple piercing and heavy eyeliner.

I smile at her and she smile back. I like Birdy. I can't believe she just recently got her wings. Gazzy told me that. Well, he didn't exactly _tell _me. More like; I read his mind when he was thinking about it.

"Now that we're all made over," Said Birdy quietly "We should continue looking for the institute"


	8. Chapter 8

**Max**

Birdy and I are 90 percent sure we have the right place. Glancing at the flock, I notice they all looked nervous. Maybe that's because this could be the day we find out who we are. It also could be the day that we die. But shouldn't we be looking at the bright side of things?

All the sudden, I feel what seems to be my head exploding. I drop to the ground, clutching my head in my hands.

"Max!" Fang yells, kneeling beside me and placing a 'reassuring' hand on my back. The rest of the flock plus Birdy gather around me. Behind my squeezed eyelids, I see pictures that look like I clicked the zoom button on a camera. First I see the earth, then it zooms to New York and pauses , then it zoomed to the street we are on and finally, I saw the tall white building that sat on from of us like a angry parent about to scold there misbehaving child.

Suddenly I hear a voice in my head.

_There's a pot of gold under every rainbow, Max. _

Suddenly the pain is gone, and I sit up. The flock looks with worried eyes.

"Are you okay, Max?" Gazzy asks me nervously, his blue eyes flicking to each of the flock members in turn for an explanation. No one gives it to him.

"I'm fine" I say trying to stand up- causing me to groan. My whole world tilts and I stumble to the side trying to regain my balance. Fang puts a hand on my shoulder, steadying me.

"Um, Max?" Birdy says quietly "What's going on? Do you need medical help?"

"More like mental help" Iggy mutters under his breath. Nudge smacks him for me.

I shake my head and take a deep breath, picking my words carefully- "I think I know where we need to go"

**15 minutes later **

**Birdy**

We're in the sewer. It doesn't really bother me, I mean; I've been worse places then _this_. But still, I can't help myself from bouncing on my heals, although not because I'm disgusted, but because I'm apprehensive.

Max leads the way and I bring up the rear. The rest of the flock can't see me and maybe that's a good thing. This way they can't see how excited I am. Of course, the rest of the flock is excited too. They're going to finally find out who their parents are. I'm not excite for that, sure I'll be happy for the flock but there's something else I can't wait for.

Any minute now.

**Nudge**

I sit at the computer, exploring my new skill. (**A.N. since I'm guessing you guys have read the book, I left out some of the not-so-important details**) It's amazing, the things I can learn about the girl who works here. I mean honestly, I was starting to think that I wasn't gonna get anymore cool powers. I Angel has all these really cool powers and-

"Nudge focus!" Max says, waving a hand in front of my face. I continue screwing around with the computer, looking for anything that would help us find out who are parents are.

"Hmm what's this" I hear Birdy say. I'm not really paying attention to her. Then I hear her gasp. Max turns around.

"What the hell!" Max yells and I turn around, surprised. I though it took a whole lot to surprise Max. My mouth drops to the floor.

There in cages, sit mutants, staring back at us.

**Max **

Mildly curious about why Birdy gasps I turn around. I admit I am more than just a little surprised to see mutants. I look at them; there are kid about our age and ones younger than us. Some of them look relatively normal but some look deformed and mutated in ways you don't want to know.

But Birdy isn't interested in any mutants; she walks as though she's in a trance to three cages pushed together, holding two girls and one boy. She kneels next to their cages and buts her fingers in-between the bars, as if she doesn't believe it.

For the first time, I hear her laugh, really loud.

"Streak? Tabby? Flame? Oh my god it's really you!"

* * *

**sorry, i wrote the end in a rush. one more chapter. Please review!**


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